This may be just fine for snow and rain. But what happens if the face of the headlight freezes up. 100 watts of bulbs inside the headlight will take care of that. Would high tech headlights, that like to be kept cool, do that.

And, in order to guarantee great results, there should be one item mandated WHEN the auto companies implement these smart headlites. For driving in rain & snow, tires with minimal tread depth SHOULD be required! Then the full effect of driving at increased speed in inclement weather conditions will provide much statistical data for Version 2 of this great idea.

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One blogger commented that her dad's cousin had a car w/ auto-dimming headlites. CADILLAC & later LINCOLN had this feature dating back to the mid 1950s. There was a "maic eye" mounted in a pod in the center of the dashboard. On the front was fresnel lens focusered on a light detector. On the rear was a knob inscribed with the words "NEAR" and "FAR". One could adjust the sensitivity of the "auto" function with this knob. In subsequent years, the sensor was moved to various other places on the dashboard. At one point it was nestled in the left corner of the dash.

To JMiller, as the comedian Dennis Miller says, "THIN THE HERD!" Darwinism with tough love. You wanna drive faster than it's safe to drive? Fine. Be sure to do so when you're driving along a narrow mountain road with a cliff on one side and a flimsy safety rail.

With the technology level required to mask illumination of raindrops, the car would certainly be able to incorporate the technology that masks the light heading toward the oncoming driver's eyes,while leaving the rest of the beam unaffected, so the oncoming driver would see pretty much a standard low beam. Masked High Beam (Glare-Free High Beam) technology already exists, albeit in a fairly simple form, in Europe.

I was quite unimressed with the video, but hey, if it's on YouTube it must be right, huh? If the reflection/detection/beam movement is feasible on the average automobile, it will still be some time in the future that this technology is commercially available.

It'll be intersting to see if it catches on. Sometimes ideas like the dim your headlights just really don't catch on and others like power locks and windows do. Perhaps if it becomes a safety issue like the back up cameras it will become legislated.

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